“Nintendo software is still great and will continue to be,” he said. “However, if software remains proprietary, sales are limited when they sell fewer hardware units. The first step to recovery is to acknowledge the problem. I have not seen anything from Mr Iwata that acknowledges that there is a problem.”

Going third party is something Nintendo has refused to do time and time again, and today during an investor’s meeting, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata once again said it is not going to happen under his watch as a new business structure is looked into.

“We are thinking about a new business structure,” Iwata stated. “Given the expansion of smart devices, we are naturally studying how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business. It’s not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone.

“We cannot continue a business without winning. We must take a skeptical approach whether we can still simply make game players, offer them in the same way as in the past for ¥20,000 or ¥30,000, and sell titles for a couple of thousand yen each. The way people use their time, their lifestyles, who they are — have changed. If we stay in one place, we will become outdated.”